Farewell to the Horse: A Cultural History [Hardcover]

ReadingInStrange and fascinating. . . . A sweeping cultural history, more kaleidoscopic than totale, as bibliographical as it is historical. . . .A beautiful and thoughtful exploration. . . . It is shocking how recently we relied upon horses, and as this tale is told, shocking how fast we have moved away from our dependent working relationship with them. This fine history book tells the story of that relationship in its final century, and how horses still run through our culture in countless ways, distant echoes of the pact we long had with them.As you pick up the reinsof this booktrying to get a sense of what sort of a ride it is to beitbecomes evident within three paragraphs that you have never read a book like it.. . . [Raulff] has an extraordinarily connective mind and it is seldom possibleto predict where he is going with it. . . . Beautifully and idiosyncraticallyillustrated.Exceptionallythorough. . . . Raulff offers a look at a changing cultural landscape,primarily in western Europe, with the horse as one of the primary casualties ofindustry.Get ready for a wild ride! Operatic in scope, quirky in detail, Ulrich Raulff's magnificent book will sweep you off your feet, and carry you through centuries of art and literature, warfare and industry, all to the sound of the hoofbeats that made so much of human history possible. This is an important, passionate, surprising book. It shows just how much of our progress is owed to another species--a species we both revered and cruelly enslaved. Students of history, lovers of horses, and those of us who recognize the crucial role of animals in human history will give this volume a prominent place on the bookshelf, and gratefully consult it again and again.To call this history from scientist and journalist Raulff a sprawling work would be an understatement. The authors deep love of and fascination with all things equine is apparent in this beautifully translated deep dive into the history of humankinds rellă!